


The Summer of Ziggy Stardust

by beatlechicksteph



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 05:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5731861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beatlechicksteph/pseuds/beatlechicksteph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Severus Snape finds an album amongst his clutter, it brings back memories of a summer long ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Summer of Ziggy Stardust

**Author's Note:**

> When I learned of David Bowie’s Death on Monday, I was devastated. I could not fathom a world where he was not around. Just as I started coming to terms with him being gone, I was slammed with the news of Alan Rickman passing this morning. It was like a punch to the gut. So I’m dealing with this completely awful week in the only way I know how. This is completely off the cuff, and unbeta’d, so all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter or Ziggy Stardust.

Severus slammed the door to his house and stormed into the living area. He had been feeling a bit under the weather recently, so he had reluctantly gone into St. Mungo’s to see what was ailing him. After running a gamut of tests, they Healers could only tell him one thing. Cancer. A Muggle disease with only Muggle treatments, nothing magic could do for him. Recommendation: see a Muggle doctor for further information.  After surviving two wars and being a double agent, he was being brought down by a fucking Muggle disease. How ironic.

He continued his war path up the stairs into his bedroom, he looked around at his childhood bedroom, that even now in his forties he slept in.  He looked at the big pile of stuff he was meaning to go through for the last five years since the war ended.  He wondered what was the point? He didn’t know how long he had left. He might as well leave the sorting to the estate agent who had to sort through his shit to sell this poor excuse of a house after he was long gone. Frustrated, he let out a yell, throwing the pile to the ground.

He stopped and stared as an old record was unearthed in the heap of junk. He bent down, and tenderly picked it up, holding back the tears that formed in his eyes. _Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars_. He smiled as he remembered that summer, the summer between first and second year, when the album was released. He and Lily had pooled their money together to buy the album. And then they had spent the entire summer laying on the floor of her bedroom when her parents were at work listening to it non-stop at full volume.

Severus turned and ran out of the room, clutching the album in his hands. He raced down the stairs into his sitting room where his turntable still sat, gathering dust. He wiped a layer of dust off of the turn table, pulling the album out of the sleeve, placing it gently on the player. He moved the needle, placing it on the record, and listened as the first notes of _Five Years_ filled the emptiness of the house.

Severus sat on his couch, listening, remembering that summer. Remembering his friendship with Lily, and how that summer in particular was the ultimate high point of their relationship. They had never been closer than they were that summer. He was pretty sure that was the summer he fell hopelessly in love with her.  His optimism was at its peak, and he never could have imagined that only three years later that their friendship would be over, and he would never have a chance to speak to her again.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, listening to David Bowie’s voice waft through the room.

 _Well, Lily,_ he thought, _We’re about to be reunited in the afterlife. Will you forgive me then?_

When _Moonage Daydream_ began, Severus smiled as he remembered the elaborate plot the two of them had concocted to try and get into a Bowie concert and see Ziggy live. He laughed at the thought of two twelve year olds wandering around London trying to get into a rock show. It seemed ridiculous now, but it had seemed so plausible in his youth.

He sat up, and walked over to his desk that sat in the corner, pulling down a stack of parchment. He was the last living link Potter had to his mother, and with the news he received today, he didn’t know how long until there was no one left who had an intimate knowledge of Lily to share with Potter. As annoying as he found the boy, he still deserved to know what his mother was like as a child.

So, Severus sat, and only pausing to flip the record, he wrote, filling the pages of parchment with memories of he and Lily pre-Hogwarts, during the first few years at school, and their summers. He filled vial after vial with his memories, to give the boy visuals to see how his mom was in her many moods.  When he was finished it was late, and he had listened to _Ziggy_ at least a dozen times. He placed the memories and the pile of parchment in a box with a letter on top explaining everything. He warned the boy that he didn’t want any sympathy for his illness, and he did not under any circumstances want to see him show up on his doorstep with platitudes. He did mention that once he learned of his demise, the boys were to turn up at Spinner’s End and pick up the _Ziggy_ album, because it was his right to it, it was half his mother’s after all.

After sending the box with his owl off to Potter, Severus returned to his spot on his couch, eyes closed listening to Bowie.  He didn’t know how long he had for this world, but he knew one thing. When he reached whatever was waiting for him on the other side, he hoped they had music this amazing for him to enjoy for eternity. Because no one was quite like The Thin White Duke.

**Author's Note:**

> *wipes tears away* Rest in Peace, Rickman and Bowie. The world is a little darker today without you.


End file.
